Linkbar

Oct 20, 2008

NEW DELHI: Under pressure from Tamil Nadu, as well as the international community looking for leadership from India, the government will send external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee to Sri Lanka to make an assessment of the ongoing conflict in the Sri lanka.

The invitation to Mukherjee was made by his counterpart Rohitha Bogollogama after Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse rang up PM Manmohan Singh to brief him on the military operation. MEA sources said the minister's visit was "under consideration, and dates had not been finalized yet". Meanwhile, Sri Lankan foreign secretary Palitha Kohona was quoted as saying that a high-level delegation of MPs was coming to India to brief the government. The Lankan military operations have entered a critical phase, with the army claiming it had breached the last defences of the LTTE in Kilinochchi, which could confine the LTTE to Mullaitivu.